After our first night of "it´s dark outside", we had a relaxed morning and set the alarm clock to the latest possible time so that we could get some breakfast while still dressed.
This also worked and so we were able to "enjoy" the Park Inn's buffet in the still surprisingly full and very dark breakfast room. I criticised the lack of musk ox tartare, but didn't find anyone who was interested. So off to the airport.
2 stops later we were back where we were back at the airport.
So the overnight stay near the airport had worked out, albeit at a hefty price. We're not sure whether it would have been cheaper somewhere else near the airport, but a city centre hotel would have surely been better value for money. And this stay secured our Radisson status for another year, so from this point of view it was ok-ish.
But anyway, now we're back at the airport and for the first time not to fly with SAS (where we can use our Star Alliance status) or Air Greenland (where we had a premium ticket). No, our route took us to Terminal 3 with its self-check-in machines.
We've become so spoilt by now and without flying for business that we've already comment on such issues as "Oh noooo, not those things". In the end, however, it wasn't a big problem to get the two tags for the suitcases and the boarding passes with the booking number and the passports.
Only when it came to handing over the suitcases did one of the SAS ladies standing by have to intervene, as my suitcase weighed 20 kilos and an additional tag had to be attached to the baggage tag to warn that 20 kilos were now waiting here. Not that my girlfriends suitcase was significantly lighter at 19.8 kilos but rules are rules ...
In the end, everything went faster than expected and so fast that we hadn't even finished the bottles of water we had bought. Incidentally, there are surprisingly few places to sit in Terminal 3 before the security check if you don't want to go to Burger King or something. What we didn't want.
Today we would be flying with a new airline that goes by the lovely name of "Danish Air Transport", or DAT for short, and whose 20 aircraft operate mainly on Danish domestic routes. DAT is also the only airline that flies to our destination today: Rønne Airport on the island of Bornholm.
As DAT doesn't have a lounge either, of course, we went straight to the gate, funnily enough near the gate where the Air Greenland flight let us out yesterday.
Only one floor lower, because today we would be taking the short hop to Bornholm on one of DAT's ATRs. And the aircraft are indeed not particularly suitable for parking on a finger.
So we took the bus to the apron and boarded the plane. Because we were so surprised, there's no photo of the outside, as you had to get in the back of this type of aircraft. There was also a free choice of seats and so we were able to spread out in the front of the ATR 72, labelled OY-RUN, which is only about 5 years old.
More legroom than yesterday.
After boarding was almost complete, we were able to spread out even more and thus had just as much space as in Lufthansa's intra-European Business Class. Only for 40 euros per ticket.
Things got a bit stressful afterwards, as a lady was boarded by medical staff via a lift and placed directly in front of me. Of course, we don't know exactly what the lady had, but she immediately darkened the windows and shortly after take-off she fell over and vomited. In our opinion, she wasn't exactly fit to fly, but who knows what the reason for the lady's journey was. Too bad for the window, because I could only photograph the propeller. But let's hope that the lady is feeling better now, because she was already suffering a lot during the flight.
On a positive note for DAT, one of the two stewardesses lovingly looked after the lady during the flight and tried to distract her.
We then took to the runway and with the propellers revving up, we took off in the direction of the Danish island in the sun.
Once again, the weather was fine and we looped south-east towards the Baltic Sea. We only needed about 22 minutes of the planned flight time of 28 minutes and then Bornholm came into view.
A 180 degree turn and the landing approach began.
Touchdown on the 2000 metre long runway, which is also suitable for larger aircraft.
It seems to be usual on this holiday that we went close to the terminal and had to walk the rest to the terminal.
It took about 20 minutes for the suitcases to be transported on a luggage trolley into the area behind the glass panes in the photo.Mainly because the sick lady had to be moved to a waiting ambulance before the luggage could be unloaded.
Well, with so few flights a day, a large baggage carousel makes no sense.
But then it went quickly and alongside all the families and people travelling home - we were the only non-Danes as far as we could see - we had our suitcases. And were able to start the incredibly long walk to the car hire. 12 metres.
Bornholm is an island of about 590 square kilometres in the Baltic Sea, located between Sweden and Poland. Rügen lies 85 kilometres to the south-west, which is why Bornholm is also a popular destination for Germans. There is even a direct ferry connection with Saßnitz, which is of course very convenient.
The island has around 40,000 inhabitants and has stable, sunny and pleasantly warm weather, especially in summer. And we wanted to discover this with a hire car, which we had booked in advance.
The lady at the Europcar stand was super friendly, complained that she had to put on a long-sleeved shirt again and, after a lot of input into the computer, handed us the keys to a Skoda. A not-so-new Skoda with a hole in the windscreen, but everything was ok so far.
The journey from the airport to Rønne and our hotel was then very quick and super pleasant to drive. Maybe it's because you're generally more relaxed on holiday and maybe it's just that the road users here are more relaxed, but it was super easy. Only the omnipresent cyclists, who usually have their own lanes here, for example on roundabouts, require a little attention.
But we didn't run anyone over or disturb them in any other way, so it worked out quite well.
The hotel, the Griffen Spa Hotel, is a larger building on the northern edge of Rønne and we chose it because it's easy to get to, has a car park and ... the pictures of the rooms looked nice.
The rooms ... so-so.
The view from the room ... if you ignore the road, very nice. But to be honest, the road is hardly used. At night, the footpath along the Baltic Sea was more of a source of noise when a few groups of teenagers walked along with loud music.
Welcome to Bornholm!